From time to time, pneumatic tires require repair or replacement, and as such, the tire must be removed from a wheel rim to which the tire is mounted. To remove the tire, a variety of tools have been developed, which generally include an elongated bar having a handle and a working end that is adapted to be inserted between a bead of the tire and the wheel rim. The working end of the tool typically has a flattened or tapered portion to facilitate the manual insertion of the working end between the tire bead and the wheel rim. As such, once the working end of the tire removal tool is manually inserted between the bead of the tire and the wheel rim, the user applies pressure on the handle and moves a portion of the working end of the tire removal tool into contact with the wheel rim. As a result, the wheel rim is established as a fulcrum, while the tire removal tool serves as a lever. The pressure applied upon the handle of the tire removal tool causes the working end to move a segment of the tire bead inward, allowing the tire bead to be stretched over the wheel rim by moving the tool around the periphery of the tire. To facilitate this process, automated machines have been developed, which rotate the tire in conjunction with the use of the tire removal tool, and as a result, there is no need for manually moving the tire removal tool around the periphery of the tire.
Furthermore, many tires require specialized tools for their removal, whereby a separate tool is used to release or demount each of the first and second tire beads from the wheel rim. For example, after the first tire bead is released from the wheel rim, a specialized tire removal tool is then inserted between the second tire bead and the wheel rim, so as to leverage the second bead over the wheel rim to complete the removal of the tire from the wheel rim.
Known working tool designs for demounting a second tire bead from a wheel rim include a straight tool, which has a tip that angles downwardly from the longitudinal plane of the tool. While a downward end creates a more efficient lever, the downwardly turned tip, however, makes insertion difficult and therefore, requires that the tip be inserted at a sideways angle to the second bead. As such, a user typically inserts the tip between the second tire bead and the wheel rim, leading with a corner of the tip, while gradually working the remainder of the tip underneath. However, the range of motion of such straight tool is limited by contact with the tread of the tire. Thus, because the tread of the tire is relatively stiff and does not compress when the tool is raised to the point of contacting the tread, the rotation of the straight tool is effectively stopped. This may prevent the user of the tool from successfully demounting the tire, or, in the least require the user of the tool to apply greater effort to pry the wheel rim free.
Moreover, the use of such current tire removal or demounting tools to demount the second tire bead from standard-size wheel rims discussed above, are generally tedious and cumbersome to use when removing the stiffer second bead from the lighter, smaller-size wheel rims, such as a deep-dish wheel rim. As a result, the use of such current tire demounting tools to remove a tire from a deep-dish wheel rim may lead to damage to the wheel rim and/or injury to the individual demounting the tire.
A deep-dish wheel rim 10, as shown in FIG. 1, has a cylindrical body or barrel 20 that includes an annular inner surface 22 and an annular outer surface 24. A mounting hub 30 is attached within the annular inner surface 22 of the wheel rim 10, and is used for mounting the wheel rim 10 to a rotating spindle or other rotating axle structure provided by a car, truck, or other vehicle via mounting apertures 32. The barrel 20 is bounded laterally by an annular inboard flange 40 and an annular outboard flange 42, and as such, the sides of the wheel rim 10 proximate to the respective inboard and outboard flanges 40 and 42 are respectively referred to as a hub side 50 and a dish side 52. As such, the term “deep-dish” refers to the portion of the inner surface 22 of the barrel 20 of the wheel rim 10 that separates the outboard flange 42 from the mounting hub 30 by a portion of the inner surface 22 of the barrel 20, whereby such dish portion is designated by reference character “D” in FIG. 2. Thus, when the deep-dish wheel rim 10 is mounted to a vehicle via the mounting hub 30, the inboard flange 40 is proximate to the vehicle, while the outboard flange 42 is distal to the vehicle. As a result, a large portion of the inner surface of the barrel 22, or dish D, is left exposed to the environment when the wheel rim 10 is mounted to the vehicle.
The deep-dish wheel rim 10 also includes an annular drop center section 60 that is recessed into the barrel 20, as shown in FIG. 2. That is, the annular drop center section 60 is configured so that it has a radius R relative to the axial center “X” of the wheel rim 10 that is smaller than a radius R′ of the remaining adjacent portions of the annular barrel 20. Furthermore, the annular drop center section 60 is positioned in the wheel rim 10, such that it is proximate, or nearer, to the dish side 52 of the wheel rim 10 than it is to the hub side 50 of the wheel rim 10.
Deep-dish wheel rims 10, also referred to as low-box wheel rims, typically have a lightweight design and may be of any suitable diameter, such as 17.5″ for example. Such low-profile design makes deep-dish wheel rims 10 desirable in trucking or hauling applications where the trailer platform supported by such wheel rims can be positioned at its lowest level to maximize the cargo carrying height that the trailer may have, while still allowing the trailer to meet maximum height regulations for travel on public roadways.
Finally, to mount a tire 100 to the deep-dish wheel rim 10, the wheel rim 10 is inserted within a mounting aperture 110 of the tire 100. As such, the barrel 20 of the wheel rim 10 forms an airtight seal with a first bead 120 and a second bead 130 of the tire 100 that circumscribes the mounting aperture 110 of the tire 100. As such, the first bead 120 forms an airtight seal with the outboard flange 42 of the wheel rim 10, and the second bead 130 forms an airtight seal with the inboard flange 40 of the wheel rim 10. Thus, the first bead 120 of tire 100 is positioned proximate to the dish side 52 of the wheel rim 10 and the second bead 130 of the tire 100 is positioned proximate to the hub side 50 of the wheel rim 10. It should also be appreciated that the first and second beads 120 and 130 of the tire 100 are proximate to respective tire sidewalls 132 and 134 that are separated by a tread surface 136 that extends therebetween. As such, the sidewall 132 is positioned adjacent to the dish side 52 of the wheel rim 10 and the sidewall 134 is positioned adjacent to the hub side 50 of the wheel rim 10.
Therefore, while generally available tire demounting tools can be used to accomplish the removal of the first bead 120 of the tire 100 from the dish side 52 of the wheel rim 10, current tire demounting tools are not efficient in removing the second bead 130 of the tire 100 from the deep-dish wheel rim 10. In fact, techniques for using current tire demounting tools for removing the second bead 130 of the tire 100 from the deep-dish wheel rim 10 requires substantial physical exertion given the wide portion of the tire that is mounted across the barrel 20 of the deep-dish wheel rim 10. This can lead to physical injury, as well as damage to the deep-dish wheel rim 10 and to the tire 100 as well. Moreover, many deep-dish wheel rims 10 are extremely lightweight, and therefore require substantial anchoring to a floor or other surface in order to allow the tire removal forces applied through the demounting tool to be effectively isolated and delivered to the tire 100 to remove the second bead 130 of the tire 100 from the deep-dish wheel rim 10. As such, the removal of the tire 100 from the deep-dish wheel rim 10 using currently available demounting tools generally requires at least two trained individuals, whereby one individual stabilizes the wheel rim 10 at one point or side, while another individual utilizes the tire demounting tool from a diametrically opposed point or side of the wheel rim 10 to remove the tire 100. Therefore, the process of removing a tire 100 from the deep-dish wheel rim 10 using current demounting tools is physically demanding and dangerous and often requires two trained individuals to execute, necessitating additional staffing costs and training, which is undesirable.
Therefore, there is a need for a tire demounting tool that allows one individual to demount a second bead of a tire from a deep-dish wheel rim. In addition, there is a need for a tire demounting tool for demounting a second bead of a tire from a deep-dish wheel rim that is easy to use. Furthermore, there is a need for a tire demounting tool that is configured to allow one individual to anchor the wheel rim and tire to a surface using his or her body weight while applying a pushing force moving away from the individual to the tire demounting tool to demount the second bead of the tire from a deep-dish wheel rim.